This invention relates to methods and apparatus for making stators for electric motors and similar machines such as generators. Although the invention is described herein in the context of its application to electric motor stators, it will be understood that it is equally applicable to other types of stators having intermediate lead wires extending from multiple coil portions wound on each stator pole.
Intermediate terminals extending from multiple coil portions wound on a stator pole are frequently required on electric motors for commutating motor speed and for other requirements. While in recent years machines have been developed to automatically wind stator coils and to connect the lead wires to terminal boards mounted on the stator core, for example, Pearsall U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,418, these machines cannot be used to automatically mount intermediate lead wires on the terminal board. Other methods and apparatus for automatically mounting the ends of stator windings to terminal boards are described in several patents, such as Fischer U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,113, Fischer U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,319, and Reiger, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,764. While all of these devices have in common the capability to mount the ends of the stator coil windings to the terminal boards, none is capable of automatically mounting intermediate lead wires. Prior to this invention, intermediate lead wires were generated by interrupting the automatic operation of the winding machine and grasping a strand of wire between the coil portions mounted on a stator. When the winding operation was complete, the strand of wire was manually secured to the terminal board.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide methods and apparatus for automatically connecting the intermediate lead wires from multiple coil portions wound on a stator pole to terminal means mounted on the stator terminal board.
Another problem is that the previously known machines described in the above patents had to be designed and built for specific configurations of terminal means mounted on the terminal board. None of these relatively complex machines could be readily adjusted to handle a wide variation in the location of the terminal means mounted on the stator terminal board.
It is therefore another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for automatically connecting the intermediate lead wires from multiple coil portions wound on a stator pole to terminal means mounted on the stator terminal board wherein the apparatus can be readily adjusted to account for variation in the placement of the terminal means on the terminal board.
Another problem with the existing method of generating intermediate lead wires is that after the winding is complete, the further manual step of cutting the intermediate lead wires and permanently affixing the wires to the terminal board is required. In addition to requiring manual effort, this latter step also involves some waste of wire.
In view of these considerations, it is still another object of this invention to provide methods and apparatus for permanently affixing the intermediate lead wires to the stator terminal board in a single operation, and with a minimum of wire waste.